Don Cherry joined Dennis & Callahan on Monday morning, and the CBC Hockey Night in Canada analyst said he is sticking with his pick of the Bruins to win it all against the Blackhawks.

‘They are going to win the Cup,’ Cherry said point-blank. ‘I picked Boston all the way through.”

‘It’s funny how the Bruins can turn it on like that,’ he added, referencing the Bruins seemingly flipping a switch in the middle of Game 2 Saturday night. ‘It was like how it was against Toronto [in Game 7]. ‘Oh, 4-1? We’re going to turn it on for about 15 minutes.’ And that’s what they did in the overtime. If Chicago plays like they did in the overtime, it’s not going to go long.”

Part of that, the former Bruins coach said, was the result of the B’s consistently physical play, particularly after the first period.

‘A few [Blackhawks] guys are hearing footsteps ‘¦ and the defense gets rid of the puck early,’ Cherry said. ‘Instead of taking their time a little, they know guys like [Milan] Lucic are coming, that little shot’s coming, and they get rid of the puck early.”

Cherry acknowledged that both goalies, Tuukka Rask and Corey Crawford, have been playing superbly, and he doesn’t expect any blowouts in either direction.

Cherry heaped praise on Rask in particular, even giving him the edge over Tim Thomas‘ performance during the Bruins’ 2011 Stanley Cup run.

‘Timmy Thomas did play great — I’m not putting him down — but Rask is unbelievable,’ Cherry said. ‘He is in a zone right now.”

Cherry also spoke highly of Tyler Seguin, saying he fully expects the young forward to start producing more soon. The key is giving Seguin, in the form of ice time and confidence, the opportunity to succeed. Now that that is starting to happen again, the puck should start to fall.

‘When you don’t play, you’re not going to be anything,’ Cherry said. ‘He was taken off the line when [Jaromir] Jagr came. How would I handle him? I’d play him to death. And when you play him to death, he’d come through for you.’

Just 12 hours after Campbell blocked a slap shot from Evgeni Malkin during a Bruins penalty kill, general manager Peter Chiarelli announced that Campbell will miss the remainder of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs due to a broken right fibula.

The injury occurred during the second period of Game 3 as the Bruins were killing off a penalty for too many men on the ice when Campbell went to the ice to get in the way of a Malkin shot. Campbell blocked the shot and stayed on the ice for 30 seconds until he could get off at the next whistle. He immediately went down the tunnel with assistance and did not return.

Campbell skated in all 15 playoff games this year with seven points on three goals and four assists, including one game-winning goal. The 29-year-old has appeared in 569 regular season games and recorded 54 goals and 89 assists with 526 penalty minutes. In 47 playoff games (all with Boston), he has tallied four goals and nine assists.

This postseason, Campbell had three goals and four assists in 15 games as the center of Boston’s Merlot Line with Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille.

After going to the ice to block a powerful slap shot from Evgeni Malkin on a power play in the second period, Gregory Campbell, the center of the “Merlot” line will not be returning.

Campbell stayed on the ice for over 30 seconds of the penalty kill and hobbled off on his left leg while unable to put any pressure on his right leg. He was pushed slightly by an official, who helped him to the bench as the crowd chanted, “Campbell, Campbell, Campbell.”

The Bruins announced before overtime that Campbell would not be returning.

Campbell played just 10 shifts and 6:51 of Game 3 before taking the shot from Malkin. His line of Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille was on the ice to start the game.

NESN Bruins analyst Barry Pederson joined Dennis & Callahan on Tuesday morning to offer his opinion of the B’s 6-1 rout of the Penguins in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

“I’m a little bit shocked at what I just witnessed last night. ‘¦ How ill-prepared the Pittsburgh Penguins looked right from the opening faceoff of not only Game 2 but Game 1,” Pederson said. “It’s as if when they had their eight days off to prepare, they watched the Vancouver series the year the Bruins won the Cup and they said to themselves, ‘Listen, we’re not going to let them out-hit us, out-physical us. Let’s make sure that we start running around and be physical to show that we’re not going to be pushed around.’ But they completely forgot to play their game and work hard and do the little things.

“And then of course when you have bad goaltending that also breaks the spirit. They are not heading in the right direction, to say the least.”

Added Pederson: “I also think they got off to the wrong start in Game 1 where they looked rattled, they looked like they were very fragile, whining and complaining about calls. Even yesterday you could see that when things were offside they were jumping all over the linesman as if the linesman made mistakes. They look like they’re not focused, and they’re looking at the wrong things instead of themselves.”

Most of the criticism is being heaped upon stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

“When you’re talking about these two, to me, you’re talking about the two best players in the National Hockey League — not even the National Hockey League, in the world,” Pederson said. “When you sit there and you look now, you’re talking about two players that have lost their direction. They look like they’re unfocused. They’re I think setting bad examples for their teammates in the sense that they’re not working hard enough. You saw last night a number of fly-by situations where they had chances to stop, do the little things that you need to do to win championships.

“So, they’ve lost their focus and their direction, and they’ve got to get that back. Because they’re the ones that the team is going to be looking to here in Game 3 to kind of help them turn things around.”

The question was innocent enough. After scoring two more playoff goals in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against Pittsburgh Saturday, David Krejci was asked if he considers himself in the same class as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

“No. Those guys, I think they’re the best players in the world at this moment,” he answered after Saturday’s 3-0 Bruins’ win in Game 1. “There’s no one like those guys. On the other hand, we don’t have guys like that. We have a team. We all play as a team.”

Krejci, with seven goals and 12 assists, now leads all scorers in the Stanley Cup playoffs with 19 points. In yet another parallel with 2011, when the Bruins won it all, Krejci is leading the way. That year, Krejci had 12 goals and 11 assists in leading the Bruins to the Cup. The next three leading scorers in the playoffs are Penguins in Malkin (16 points), Kris Letang (16) and Crosby (15) and then another Bruin and Krejci line-mate in Nathan Horton, who scored the third and final goal of the night, and also has 15 points in the playoffs.

“I think Nathan played really well today,” Krejci said. “He set me up for my two goals. He scored a big one in the third. [Tuukka Rask] played pretty good, as well. I think it was pretty good effort by all the guys and a big win.”

Krejci was asked after his second goal that made it 2-0 whether it felt like the Bruins were playing with house money.

“I think so,” Krejci said. “You know, I think Tookes made some big saves in the third period. You know, that’s not our hockey, playing up and down. We want to play good defensively and play in their zone. They’re a good team, so it’s tough to do that. But the second goal was pretty big for our team. I think right after that we took over and kind of controlled the game from there.”

This will be as challenging a series as the Bruins will have this postseason for any of their players, but it will be especially tough on Boston’s top six forwards as they try to handle Pittsburgh’s forecheck while also trying to outscore the team that led the regular season in scoring.

“Obviously you’ve got to be responsible,” Lucic said of handling the Malkin line. “They’re great hockey players. I mean, all three guys on that line have scored 40 goals, two of them (Malkin and Iginla) scored 50. It’s no secret what they can do if you’re making careless plays and turning pucks over. Even on the other line, you look at Kunitz and Dupuis. Both scored 20 goals in a shortened season, and Sidney Crosby is Sidney Crosby. Their top two lines are full of fire power. You can’t be careless and make stupid turnovers.

“As much as there is focus in playing well defensively, we also need to score goals as well. We need to be making good hard plays and try to spend as much time in the offensive zone as we can.”

All six members of Pittsburgh’s top two lines have at least 10 points through 11 games this postseason, with Malkin leading the way with 16 points. Though Krejci leads all postseason players with 17 points through 12 games, the Bruins haven’t had the type of offensive consistency in the playoffs as the Penguins. Brad MarchandandTyler Seguin led the team in goals with 18 and 16, respectively, during the regular season but have combined for just three this postseason, with Seguin having since been demoted to the third line.

Though Krejci, Horton and Lucic all have at least 10 points so far, the Bergeron line hasn’t gotten that type of production. Marchand has nine points (two goals, seven assists), Bergeron has seven (three goals, four assists) and Jaromir Jagr has no goals and four assists.

Stopping the Penguins’ loaded offense is one thing, but the B’s need to also match their production.

“They’ve definitely had consistency throughout their lineup from start to finish of the season and also so far throughout the playoffs,” Lucic said. “That hasn’t been a problem for them for a while now.”

WILMINGTON — Going home again has its drawbacks. Just ask Matt Bartkowski.

The Bruins’ 24-year-old defenseman is headed back to where it all began for him and he couldn’t be more excited. But the homecoming for the native of nearby Mt. Lebanon, Pa., does have some obligations to fill.

“The last few years it’s been close [to] playing Pittsburgh in the playoffs and now it’s finally happening,” he said after practice on Wednesday. “I’m stoked up, pumped up and ready to go, and I’m sure the rest of these guys are. Everybody’s calling in their favors, this and that and all that crap. It just pumps us up and we’re ready to go.”

The homecoming was made possible the moment the Bruins beat the Rangers in Game 5 on Saturday, less than 24 hours after the Penguins eliminated the Senators, also in five games.

“You can’t believe how many times I’ve been asked that,” Bartkowski said of being asked about heading home. “It’s going to be awesome. I can’t think of any other way of it happening. Playing a role on the team now, and it’s playoff hockey. We’ve been looking at this match up for a while, especially me. It’s going to be awesome.”

When Bartkowski was growing up, his current teammate Jaromir Jagr was helping Mario Lemieux win back-to-back Cups in 1991 and ’92. The Penguins then went through a down period in the early 2000s before Sidney Crosby was drafted in 2005. Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers and Pirates, once again had the hockey bug.

“It died down for four years or so until Crosby got drafted,” Bartkowski said. “It’s the same thing with Jagr-Lemieux era. Now it’s the Crosby-Malkin era. Every time they get big players in Pittsburgh, it seems to jump-start all the little kids playing. It’s good for the area.

“With the Pirates doing [great], what do even you say about them? It’s pretty unfortunate. Every year they have a chance at the playoffs and then they kind of blow it. Once football season is over, it’s a hockey town. And especially with the talent they have now, it’s a hockey town once football season is over.”

His coach isn’t worried about Bartkowski being overwhelmed with it all.

“No, I don’t think so,” Claude Julien said. “I think it all depends how you approach it. He seems pretty excited, he’s looking forward to it. I think at the end of the day, he knows who he’s playing for. He wants to do well for his team. The better he does, the better he looks in everybody’s eyes, whether it’s his hometown that’s rooting for the other team or whether it’s us. I don’t see an issue with that; if anything, it’s a positive, it’s exciting. You know that he’s going to be ready to play.”

What’s interesting is that, as a defenseman, his idol didn’t play for the Penguins.

“Actually, it was [Scott Stevens] on the Devils,” Bartkowski recalled. “Any chance I got to watch a Devils game, I would. I remember in ’95, they played the Penguins in the playoffs.”

Reminded that it was Stevens who carved a reputation by laying out star players of other teams, like Eric Lindros in the 2000 playoffs, Bartkowski conceded, “Yeah, I don’t think you’d get away with those hits now. We talk about that sometimes.”

When Bartkowski, who was paired Wednesday with Dennis Seidenberg, gets on the ice, he won’t be worried about the fans, tickets or his hometown. The only names he’ll be concerned with are Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Jarome Iginla and the roster of the Penguins.

“I don’t know if many adjustments,” Bartkowski said. “Just making sure you’re hard on the puck and playing as physical as you can in every situation that you can. Don’t get yourself out of position but be as physical as you can.”